ELISEO MEIFRÈN ROIG (Barcelona, 1857 - 1940). "Cadaqués... Lot 49

ELISEO MEIFRÈN ROIG (Barcelona, 1857 - 1940). "Cadaqués Landscape". Oil on cardboard. Signed in the lower left corner. With label on the back by Barrachina and Ramoneda. And another label on which we read: "study that appeared in the homage exhibition organised by the Barcelona City Council, and in whose catalogue it appeared with the number 130". Work published in the biography of the artist, written by Mercè Vidal (Ausa, 2011). pg. 400. Size: 18.5 x 24 cm; 41.5 x 46.5 cm (frame). Meifrén was closely linked to Cadaqués. Already in his early exhibition in the Ateneu de Barcelona, in 1883, he included landscapes of the Empordà town. In 1911 he was made an adopted son of the town and the following year, in 1912, he bought a fishermen's house in Port-Lligat. This "Cadaqués Landscape" was probably painted during these years. On this occasion, instead of repeating the much exploited corner of the picturesque bay, he opted for a less iconic setting, with a few houses dotting the land, next to a dirt road. With generous touches of subject matter and a sober palette but full of nuances, he delights us with a symphony of earthy and caramel tones in the evening light. A painter of landscapes and seascapes, Eliseo Meifrèn is considered one of the first introducers of the Impressionist movement in Catalonia. He began his artistic training at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he was a pupil of Antonio Caba and Ramón Martí Alsina, with whom he began to produce romantic landscapes of academic style. After completing his studies in 1878, he moved to Paris in order to broaden his artistic knowledge, and there he became acquainted at first hand with "plen air" painting, which was to have a powerful influence on his Parisian landscapes of those years. It was also in Paris that he coincided with the public debut of Impressionism. A year later he made a trip to Italy, during which he visited Naples, Florence, Venice and Rome; there he came into contact with the circle of Catalan artists formed by Ramón Tusquets, Arcadio Mas i Fondevila, Enrique Serra, Antonio Fabrés and Joan Llimona, among others. During these years he was a member of the Modernist group and frequented Els Quatre Gats. In 1883 he returned to Paris, where he produced numerous drawings and watercolours with views of the city and its cafés, which earned him a warm reception from the French critics and public. In the late 1980s he returned to Barcelona and continued to show his work at the Sala Parés, as well as at the Centre de Aquarelistes. In 1888 he was also a member of the jury for the Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona. In 1890 he returned to the French capital for the third time, where he took part in the Salon des Beaux-Arts and the Salon des Indépendants of 1892, together with Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, artists with whom he had formed the Sitges pictorial group the previous year. In the following years Meifrèn submitted his works to numerous official exhibitions and competitions, including the National Exhibitions of Madrid and Barcelona, and was awarded third medals at the Paris Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1899, a silver medal at the Brussels Universal Exhibition of 1910, a grand prize at the Buenos Aires Universal Exhibition of the same year, a medal of honour at the San Francisco International Exhibition of 1915 and a grand prize at the San Diego Exhibition the following year. He also won the Nonell Prize in Barcelona in 1935. In 1952, Barcelona City Council dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him, held at the Palau de la Virreina.